My eyes blinked. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on a television commercial. Burger King, home of the Whopper, was advertising a bacon sundae. Did I hear right? Did they say bacon and ice cream? Surely, they were joking.

No, it was for real; the screen was showing a cup of ice cream with bacon sticking out of the top.

I immediately knew that I had to check it out. How could I pass by such an opportunity? Nashville is the test market. If it goes over here, you can soon get a bacon sundae at a Burger King near you.

The next day I reminded Honey, “I want to go to Burger King.”

“What for?” He had already forgotten. I don’t know why he puts up with me sometimes.

I didn’t know where a Burger King was located. It isn’t a place I frequent on a regular basis. “I think I know where it is,” said Honey. He got on the Interstate and headed for the Burger King. Unfortunately, Honey’s memory was insufficient and when we got there, the Burger King was a Wendy’s.

What to do now? Well, get out the old smart phone and Google it, of course. I didn’t see anything nearby. Oh. No, don’t tell me there isn’t one.

“Wait, here’s one,” I exclaimed pointing to the search results. So we headed down the road to a Burger King about 5 miles away. I still think there was one closer, but we couldn’t find it.

“Do you have bacon sundaes?” Honey asked the drive-thru speaker.

“Yes, we do,” said the voice at the other end. Did I hear a bit of disgust in the voice, or was it only my imagination?

The sundae looked exactly like the one on TV, soft-serve ice cream with chocolate syrup, covered in bacon crumbles, with a slice of bacon sticking out of the top as a finishing touch.

Why is it called a sundae anyhow? Stories seem to vary as to where and why the concoction was invented with several places claiming to have served the first one. The most popular story is that soda water was forbidden by law on Sunday, so the ice cream soda was served with the same ingredients, minus the soda water. The name was changed to sundae because it wouldn’t be right to name it after a holy day.

Whatever the reason, the ice cream dish became a popular favorite at soda fountains, usually located in the local drug store. The classic sundae was ice cream topped with chocolate syrup and a cherry on top. Soon the chocolate syrup became other flavors: cherry, strawberry, pineapple, caramel, or whatever.

I’m sure the inventor never imagined that the creation would sink to the point of being topped with bacon. Burger King says that everyone loves bacon, so why not? They incorporated the old idea of using something sweet and something salty to complement each other in taste.

Some have simply called it a gimmick to draw attention to Burger King in the fast food wars where everyone tries to get more and more creative for the publicity.

Eventually, I did get around to eating it, all 510 calories of soft serve, chocolate, and bacon. The bacon did not seem salty, just smoky.

 I can’t say that I liked it, only that I managed to eat the entire thing without getting sick. I think I prefer my salt on peanuts. It may be true that southerners will eat anything fried, but not necessarily bacon with ice cream.

Somehow, I don’t think this is going to become a popular item, not even on the breakfast menu. Some things just don’t go together.

Now that I’ve tried it and saved you the trouble, I don’t think I want another one.

Copyright 2012 Sheila Moss